Sunday, August 8, 2010

There's a new Sherlock Holmes series on BBC One. It's simply named Sherlock.

I'm a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes series played by Jeremy Brett as Sherlock and Watson being played first by David Burke an then by Edward Hardwicke. All excellent actors and to me, the character as played by Jeremy Brett became THE Sherlock Holmes.

When doing a new adaptation of a classic, there's always a fine line to walk. You want to respect the original and at the same time, you want to do variations to make it fresh and interesting.

I found the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey Jr. quite excellent, although I had accepted beforehand that it would be different.

Now I'm finally getting back to the new BBC One Sherlock. The story takes place in present-day Lodon, which is really interesting. Sherlock and Watson are wonderfully played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. This character version of Sherlock Holmes has definitively some variations from the character played by Jeremy. Without giving spoilers, Sherlock performs a cruel action in the final confrontation that would not be compatible with Jeremy Brett character version. On the other hand, he seems less like a robot. He makes jokes!

The episodes are movie-length: 90 minutes! I watched the first episode twice and enjoyed it a lot. I liked the second episode a bit less, although I can't say why.

All in all I think this new series is a tremendous achievement with the visuals, sounds, scenario and acting. I'm really looking forward to the third episode. I guess the only down-side is it seems we can't expect other episodes for a while after that.